Several thousand Quinn Group employees and supporters gathered in Cavan this evening to continue their protest against the Financial Regulator's decision to place Quinn Insurance (QIL) in the hands of provisional administrators.
The protest, which was organised by the Chamber of Commerce, was held in Market Square and was designed to highlight the effect the ban on the firm doing business in the UK has had on companies outside the Quinn Group.
Chamber president Eamon McDwyer told the crowd that failure to restore control of Quinn Insurance to the Quinn Group would have a "hugely detrimental effect on the region".
The Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield took court action last week amid concerns QIL had significantly breached its solvency ratios.
The High Court appointed Paul McCann and Michael McAteer as joint provisional administrators to QIL. The regulator also instructed the company to stop writing new business in the UK, which he described as "loss-making" and "unprofitable".
Staff at QIL say up to 1,500 employees are directly affected by the decision on North and UK business.
Employees staged two marches in Dublin and Cavan yesterday protesting at the regulator's decision.
In a statement today, staff said the administrator was willing to reassess the company's business plan for its UK and Northern Irish units. Employees at the troubled firm said he would send his findings to the regulator within 24 hours, and they hoped the company could recommence trading in the UK by Friday morning. Quinn Group employees said they would gather at the regulator's office on Friday to hear the decision.
However, the regulator's office did not comment on the claim.
Last night, Mr Elderfield met a delegation of Border county TDs and Senators. He stressed his independence and said he was restricted in the information he could share with them.
The delegation also met the provisional administrators in Cavan.
In a statement today, the Quinn Group said there was "no issue" with its liquidity, claiming the group had €70 million in surplus cash.
"Quinn Insurance has ample liquidity with almost €1 billion in cash reserves as well as other assets, and was extremely profitable with circa €18 million in profits in March alone," it said. "Due to the impact of investment losses which were in excess of €220 million over the last two years, Quinn Insurance's solvency has been impacted, and the company requires circa €100 million to restore this solvency ratio to the Financial Regulator's requirement of 150 per cent."
The group said the guarantees issued by Quinn Insurance subsidiaries could be withdrawn by the group lenders with no impact on its overall borrowing of €1.2 billion.